In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors have been one of the surprise teams, leaning on young talent to leap 10 games over .500 and into the thick of the playoff chase—they currently rank sixth, in a virtual tie with the Denver Nuggets, and are two games behind the Memphis Grizzlies. In touting the remarkable performance of coach Mark Jackson’s bunch, who rank, amazingly enough, 13th in the NBA in defensive efficiency, there always seems to be the same addendum, which goes something like: “And they’re doing it without center Andrew Bogut.”

Well, scratch that.

Last night against the Raptors, Bogut made just his fifth appearance of the year for the Warriors. Back in November, he attempted to come back from ankle surgery in time to start the season, but he clearly was not ready and had to pull out and undergo further rehab.

His progress had been slow, and given the fact that Bogut had already said he was uncomfortable with the repeated updates the team had given out on his condition early in the year, the team was mum on his possible return date. When he announced he would play on Monday, the news came as a surprise.

And he looked good. Bogut was immediately dropped into the starting five and produced 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots in just 24 minutes. The Warriors dominated inside, outscoring Toronto in the paint, 62-34. “He was great,” Jackson said. “You can tell we’re a different basketball team with him on the floor. It’s great to have him, he makes me a better coach. He makes guys better and completes us as a team.”

Just like that, the Warriors have to be considered yet another wildcard in what is already a top-heavy West. Bogut fills the team’s most glaring weaknesses. Rookie second-round pick Festus Ezeli has done a credible job taking Bogut’s starting spot, but Jackson has been forced to go small more than he would like—those lineups, which excel in transition, will still be a very big part of what the Warriors do, but Jackson will now have the option to hammer undersize teams (like Toronto) with Bogut, David Lee and Carl Landry.

The biggest impact will come on the defensive end—that’s where the Warriors have shown their greatest improvement and where Jackson has proven himself to be a good find as a coach. Bogut can make this defense exponentially better. He is a shutdown defender of the lane, and that is going to be a big-time help for point guard Stephen Curry.

As good as Curry is offensively, he is almost equally bad on the defensive end, and struggles to contain opposing guards in pick-and-rolls. Bogut will erase a lot of Curry’s mistakes, while still playing great individual post defense and limiting second-chance points.

Now, Bogut still must fit in. He is not a fast-break center even when completely healthy, and he surely won’t be one now that he is coming back from surgery. He is not going to post big-time numbers, in part because he is unlikely to play more than 26-30 minutes per game. Of course, he also has to stay on the floor. The ankle surgery is just the latest in a long string of health issues that have kept Bogut from playing—he has not been on the court for nearly 60 percent of his teams’ games in the last three seasons.

But Bogut is the guy who can take what has been a nice season marked by overachievement and make Golden State something more—a playoff threat, a team the leaders in the Western Conference want to avoid at all costs.